The present invention generally relates to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, a portable recording and reproducing apparatus, a data transfer system, a data transfer method, and a data recording and reproducing method.
Various types of consumer audio visual devices are in widespread use, allowing users to personally enjoy music software and video software. For example, users own audio systems by which information is reproduced from disc record media such as a CD (Compact Disc) (trademark) and an MD (MiniDisc) (trademark) for example or record information thereto and portable reproducing devices by which information is reproduced from the above-mentioned disc recording media. These audio systems allow users to reproduce desired CDs and MDs or record desired music pieces for example to MDs, which are recordable, thereby creating users"" original discs.
The related-art portable music reproducing devices, for example, portable CD players and portable MD players are intended to reproduce only one type of recording medium; for example, one CD or MD is loaded at time in these portable devices. Generally, one unit of a recording medium is provided as one music album in which plural music pieces (a music collection) are recorded. Therefore, a user may only reproduce one music collection at a time by a single portable player. In other words, if a user wants to reproduce music pieces recorded on plural music collections by a single portable player, the user must change the discs every time such a situation occurs. In the case of stationary audio systems, a disc changer system allows the reproduction of music pieces recorded on plural music collections by automatically changing the discs. However, the portable devices, which inevitably are required to be light in weight and small in size, cannot accommodate such a disc changer system.
With recording/reproducing devices using such recording media that users can record music data as MDs and memory cards based on flash memory, music collections provided by CDs for example can be recorded or users may selectively record desired music pieces. If the storage size of a recording medium is large enough, plural music collections may be recorded on a single recording medium. These recording/reproducing devices, when applied to portable players, allow users to listen to plural music collections only by loading one recording medium in a portable players. However, with these portable players, management is not made on a music collection basis on a recording medium. If the above-mentioned recording/reproducing devices record a collection of 10 pieces of music and another collection of 8 pieces for example on a single recording medium, management is made on the basis that 18 pieces are simply recorded on the recording medium, not on the basis that two collections of 10 pieces and 8 pieces are recorded. Therefore, if users want to reproduce only one of the collections, they cannot specify the desired one for reproduction.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to execute the reproduction of pieces of music (or main data) contained in plural music collections (namely, collections of main data) on a single recording medium while retaining the nature of collection as a music collection, without use of a recording-medium changer system, namely without changing recording media recorded with the main data.
In carrying out the invention and according to a first aspect thereof, there is provided a recording/reproducing apparatus for recording/reproducing data to/from a recording medium having a data area in which data are stored and a management data area in which management data for managing the data are stored, including selecting means for selecting group management data to be stored in the recording medium in accordance with a user operation, the group management data, stored in the management data area, managing, as a data group, a plurality of the data to be stored in the data area, reading means for reading the selected group management data and the data group managed by the group management data, and transfer means for transferring the group management data and the data group read by the reading means to an external apparatus.
In carrying out the invention and according to a second aspect thereof, there is provided a portable recording and reproducing apparatus for receiving data and management data for managing the received data, recording the received data and the received management data to a recording medium, and reproducing the recorded data from the recording medium, including recording means for recording a received data group in a data area of a recording medium and group management data for managing the received data group in a management data area of the recording medium, selecting means for selecting, in accordance with a user operation, the group management data to be recorded in the recording medium, reproducing means for reproducing a plurality of data managed by the selected group management data, and control means for controlling the reproducing means so as to reproduce, in units of the received data group, the plurality of data managed by the selected group management data.
According to a third aspect thereof, there is provided a data transfer system including a recording/reproducing apparatus for recording/reproducing data to/from a first recording medium having a data area in which data are stored and a management data area in which management data for managing the data are stored, the recording/reproducing apparatus including first selecting means for selecting, in accordance with a user operation, group management data to be stored in the first recording medium, the group management, stored in the management data area, managing a plurality of the data as a data group, reading means for reading the selected group management data and the data group managed by the selected group management data, and transfer means for transferring the read group management data and the data group managed by the group management data to an external device, and the data transfer system also including a portable recording and reproducing apparatus for receiving data and management data for managing the data received from the recording/reproducing apparatus and recording the received data and the received management data onto a second recording medium, including recording means for recording a data group received from the recording/reproducing apparatus into a data area of the second recording medium and the group management data into a management data area thereof, second selecting means for selecting, in accordance with a user operation, the group management data recorded on the second recording medium, reproducing means for reproducing a plurality of the data managed by the group management data, and control means for controlling the reproducing means so as to reproduce the plural data, in units of the data group, managed by the selected group management data.
According to a fourth aspect thereof, there is provided a recording/reproducing apparatus for recording/reproducing data to/from a recording medium having a data area in which music data are stored and a management data area in which management data for managing a plurality of the music data are stored, including selecting means for selecting, in accordance with a user operation, album management data to be stored in the recording medium, the album management data, stored in the management data area, managing a plurality of the music data as album data, reading means for reading the selected album management data and the album data managed thereby, and transfer means for transferring the read album management data and the read album data managed thereby to an external device.
According to a fifth aspect thereof, there is provided a data transfer method for transferring data from a recording medium having a data area in which data are stored and a management data area in which management data for managing the data are stored, including the steps of selecting group management data to be stored in the recording medium in accordance with a user operation, the group management data, stored in the management data area, managing, as a data group, a plurality of pieces of data to be stored in the data area, reading the selected group management data and the data group managed by the group management data, and transferring the read group management data and the read data group to an external apparatus.
According to a sixth aspect thereof, there is provided a data recording and reproducing method for receiving data and management data for managing the data to record the data and the management data to a recording medium and reproduce the data and the management data therefrom, including the steps of recording a received data group in a data area of a recording medium and group management data for managing the received data group in a management data area of the recording medium, selecting, in accordance with a user operation, the group management data to be recorded in the recording medium, reproducing a plurality of data managed by the selected group management data, and controlling the reproducing step so as to reproduce the plurality of data managed by the selected group management data in units of the received data group.
According to a seventh aspect thereof, there is provided a method for recording data and management data for managing the data transferred from a first recording medium having a data area in which the data are stored and a management data area in which the management data are stored and reproducing the data and the management data from the first recording medium, including the steps of selecting, in accordance with a user operation, group management data to be stored in the first recording medium, the group management, stored in the management data area, managing a plurality of the data as a data group, reading the selected group management data and the data group managed by the selected group management data, and transferring the read group management data and the data group managed by the group management data to an external device, recording the data group to a data area of a second recording medium and the group management data into a management data area thereof, selecting, in accordance with a user operation, the group management data recorded on the second recording medium, reproducing a plurality of the data managed by the group management data, and controlling the reproducing step so as to reproduce, in units of the data group, the plural data managed by the selected group management data.
According to an eighth aspect thereof, there is provided a data transfer method for transferring data from a recording medium having a data area in which the data are stored and a management data area in which management data for managing the data, including the steps of selecting, in accordance with a user operation, album management data to be stored in the recording medium, the album management data, stored in the management data area, managing a plurality of the music data as album data, reading the selected album management data and the album data managed thereby, and transferring the read album management data and the read album data managed thereby to an external device.
As described, the present invention provides the following advantages. The recording/reproducing apparatus according to the invention can send plural pieces of main data constituting a main data aggregate such as music collections for example to the portable apparatus for example along with collection managing data for managing these plural pieces of main data as the main data aggregate. The portable apparatus according to the invention manages records the received plural pieces of main data (for example, music data) on a recording medium and manages these data for reproduction by use of the received collection managing data, thereby reproducing the main data while retaining the concept of an aggregate such as a music collection. Consequently, the portable apparatus can execute various operations by making distinction between the plural main data collections on a single recording medium, thereby providing an advantage that user-specified reproducing operations such as the reproduction on a discrete music collection basis and the reproduction over plural music collections for example while retaining the concept of music collections without changing recording media. Further, if a recording medium to be loaded in the portable apparatus is of fixed type rather than changeable, the present invention allows users to listen to the reproduction of plural music collections. Still further, the capability of transferring the main data in a unit of a music collection between the recording/reproducing apparatus and the portable apparatus facilitates for users to easily handle the aggregates, which are music collections, thereby enhancing the user-friendliness of these apparatuses.
As described, the collection managing data can manage the number of times the main data collections are transferred and the number of times each piece of main data constituting a main data collection is transferred. In addition, the transfer control means of the recording/reproducing apparatus can control the execution of the transfer of each selected main data collection and each piece of main data in accordance with the number of times these data are transferred, thereby providing the appropriate transfer control for implementing copyright protection for example.
In addition, the collection managing data can manage the editing of the main data collections and the transfer control means of the recording/reproducing apparatus can control the execution of transferring the selected main data collection in accordance with the editing information managed by the collection managing data, thereby implementing copyright protection and transferring the main data collections of proper contents.
As described, the reproduction control means of the portable apparatus can control the reproduction of plural main data collections transferred and recorded on a recording medium in a specified reproduction sequence or in a random manner, thereby realizing the various manners of reproduction over plural main data collections (or plural music collections).
Moreover, the reproduction control means of the portable apparatus can control the execution of sequential reproduction, reproduction in specified order, and random reproduction of each piece of main data constituted specified one of the main data collections transferred and recorded on a recording medium, thereby realizing the reproduction of one main data collection (one music collection).
Consequently, the present invention allows various user-specified reproduction modes while retaining the music collections as conceived by users, thereby significantly enhancing user-friendliness.